


outlandish genesis of a new rendition

by XtaticPearl



Series: Like Lovers Do [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Civil War (Marvel), Conflict Resolution, Established Relationship, Estrangement, Everyone Has Issues, M/M, Making Up, Married Couple, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 08:29:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20337154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: After a high stakes disagreement, that narrowly escaped being an all-out war, the team has split up - and the leaders seem married for perfunctory reasons alone to the world. Working with Stephen and Reed on an intergalactic threat warning system, Tony comes across a traveller who resembles his husband; from a future that is supposedly their past now. According to their guest, future-past seems to be pretty telling of where their current existence might end up if things do not change.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in the alternate timeline created by the 2012!time travel mess-up of A4. Potts is still Old Tony who lived and has his own story. Tony is the 2012!guy who ends up in the situations you'll see here. Steve? Well, he's Tony's husband in both and they're all very dramatic in different ways. Have fun and leave a comment telling me what you liked after you've read, please!

There was something intrinsically disturbing about watching a spine extend beyond three tables. And then watch it snapping back to a less queasy proportion. He could appreciate the reduced effort because nobody enjoyed walking to go pick up a scanner. But not at the cost of – well, whatever Reed thought was perfectly acceptable in their company.

"If you're done gawking," Stephen stretched his palms outwards, this time to work out the kinks in his finger joints, "could you send me the new readings for – yes, thank you."

Tony swiped at his screen once more to copy the data onto Richards' work screen. Minimising his own, he blinked away the strain building in his eyes as he rolled to his feet. He felt sweat along the back of his knees as he stretched his legs and winced as his soles pressed against the ground. His plantar fasciitis reminded him that heels were the bane of a body. It was bad enough that he couldn't use a flying armour everywhere. It wouldn't be a problem if somebody just got him some ice and a week's rest.

A faint voice in his head chimed a third option of ‘his husband'. Tony decided that excruciating ache to his feet was a mild price to pay to avoid pursuing that line of thought.

The Tower was bereft of its usual chatter with half the residents absent and nobody cut his path as Tony made his way up to the penthouse. He could do a quick stop at the kitchen and pick up a smoothie or one of the –

"Intruder alert", P.E.P.P.E.R warned a second before the armour protocol came into effect and Tony flexed his palm as he pulled at his watch to form the gauntlet. It would take 17 seconds for the rest of the suit to assemble after the half-completed overhaul from the previous night but till then he had enough power to stand against whatever had breached the security.

The elevator opened a floor below the penthouse, Natasha and Clint's floor before they had left, letting Tony out into the stillness of no visible threat.

"What are we looking at, my dear?" he asked as he took in the complete lack of explosions or villainous entry signs, combined with the eerie silence devoid of alarm sirens that should be getting the team up by now.

Well, whatever remained of the team.

"It seems to be coming from Ms Romanoff's quarters," the AI responded, a note of hesitation creeping in before she continued, "Scans indicate that it is – you, Tony."

"That's disappointing," Tony muttered under his breath but kept his gauntlet on as he made his way to Natasha's old quarters. She had her own booby traps in place, those that Tony hadn't touched ever since she had left on the last ‘mission', and whoever this was would have to evade them along with his own signals.

Meeting his clone was not on his list of things to do, Tony considered, but going by the rate of things spiralling into crazy this might as well happen.

"If that's Nat, I'd really like it if you give it a chance before we get shooting," a voice called out from the room as he neared and Tony paused at the familiarity, "If it's Barton, I'd prefer that you got Nat or not assume I'm Loki, honestly that guy only does Steve impersonations."

"Sorry, wrong guesses," Tony called out as he made his way into the room, arm pointed outwards as he turned to face the intruder, "Just plain old me."

"Ah," the crouched figure tilted his head up and stood from the bedside, slowly turning to look at Tony, "Well, that'll complicate things but hey, you're not the old one between us so that's a good point, right?"

Tony stared at the face that looked back at him, at the grey head of hair and a faintly blooming bruise on a calm cheek, deep brown eyes twinkling with amusement at what he assumed was his expression of dawning confusion.

"Not as bad as looking in the mirror?" the guy asked, straightening up with a raised brow at the gauntlet facing him, "I really don't think you want to kill yourself, Tony. And I don't have time to die right now, so how about we put the posturing off for later."

When Tony didn't respond, hand steady and poised for attack, the man wearing an older reflection of him nodded to himself.

"Alright then, that's fair," he looked back at the bed, rolling his shoulders with a wince, "You mind if we have this conversation while sitting? I didn't exactly stretch this morning and I hadn't planned on getting thrown four decades into the past with no warning."

Tony should be calling for Stephen or Reed at the least, but this was the most bizarre yet fascinating threat he had faced in the last couple of months and he was kind of looking forward to it. He wondered when he began having preferences in threats but put that aside as he lowered his arm.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asked as he flexed his hand as he moved towards the mini-bar he knew Nat kept, "Or apple juice? She'd have both, if I remember it right – what do I call you, mirror-me?"

"I'll take the juice," the man sounded amused and Tony looked over his shoulder to see him eye the place with a fond look before meeting Tony's eyes, "You can call me Doctor Potts."

"Oh, this should be good," Tony observed as he picked out two juice bottles from the fridge, deciding that he didn't need the alcohol to compound things at the moment.

"Thanks," Potts took the bottle from him when he offered, eyeing it for a second before downing it and letting out a relieved exhale, looking up at Tony with a nonchalant expression, "Sorry, running from a time conqueror gets you a bit parched."

"You're running?" Tony didn't drink but nodded to Pott's hand clenching the bottle, noting the ring, "Alone?"

"Yeah, Kang isn't my husband's greatest fan," Potts shrugged as he took another sip, making an appreciative noise as he wiped at his lips, "Also, you should be calling your team in now. I don't have much time and I want to get this out before I'm dragged back in again."

"You're from the future?"

"Yeah," Potts finished the last of his juice and placed the bottle at the bedside table, "Team, Tony."

"That's the thing," Tony said as he leaned against the door frame, eyeing the older man carefully, "If you're from the future then you should know this and I'm not sure what that says about you."

"What're you talking about?" Potts frowned and Tony saw the man's eyes go to his hands, frown deepening at the lack of rings, "Who died? Did someone –"

"Nobody died," Tony assured quickly, shaking his head at the suspicious look on Potts' face, "Really, nobody's dead but – well, the team split up. Doesn't this happen in your past?"

Potts looked relieved than disappointed but inhaled before schooling his expression back to seriousness.

"Happened more than we needed it to, but I don't have sympathy right now," he rolled to his feet, touching his cheek before grimacing, "Get whoever's onboard and also Steve. We need Steve."

"Well," Tony leaned away from the door frame, a mirthless smile on his face, "That's going to be a problem."

Potts didn't seem fazed by the statement and stayed in place as Tony raised an alarm anyway, sending out a priority alert to Sam just in case Steve's team might be interested.

He wasn't placing too many bets on that at the moment.

Stephen insisted on checking the authenticity for himself and Tony sat on the other side of the lab, specifically atop Reed's table to watch as the sorcerer tried a spell on Potts to detect any falsities.

"You're from the future but not our future?" Reed scratched at his nose and looked up from his screen, nudging Tony's leg as he stretched to pick up the mug from Stephen's table, making a face at it when he realized that it was cold too, "That's – fascinating."

"Is it," Potts commented lightly even as he eyed the pendant on Strange's chain before looking over at Tony, "Did Steve reply yet?"

"Commander Rogers is on the other side of the country," Tony pointed with his apple when he caught the questioning look, "I told you, we've all got different purposes now. He's fixing SHIELD or whatever's left of it."

"And he doesn't want to know about a new version of his husband coming from nowhere?" Potts said with a dry tone of doubt, nodding when Strange stepped back, "Or you sent a message without telling these details?"

"You said there was a threat coming?" Strange asked as he dismissed the orange flashes of light from his hands, watching Potts as the man kneaded his neck.

"Kang, he's a conqueror from multiple time points," Potts twisted his wedding band absently as he exhaled tiredly, "He had some personal vendetta in the beginning but then it devolved into ‘fixing' time in general. He's related to Reed here, but not this one in particular."

"Why is he chasing you?" Reed frowned but Tony could sense the unease from his constant tapping of fingers against his knee.

"Not me, at least he didn't intend to hunt me," Potts smiled wryly, "He was after my partner when this started, apparently he didn't like that we had messed-up time."

"That's a common sentiment," Tony pointed out, raising his hands in a surrender gesture when Potts shot him a look, "Hey, you screwed up my timeline too, I'm just saying."

"And gave you a heart attack in 2012 but you seem fine now, so it all worked out," the man waved a dismissive gesture but his lips quirked up in mild satisfaction.

"So, Kang is after you now because of your partner?" Reed brought the matter back to the point.

"He's after me because I'm the starting point of the mess he wants to fix and my team didn't let him get to my husband," Potts nodded, getting off the seat and stretching his legs, "And I'm here because my calculations hint that this will be his last stop, this is the divergence he'll come to correct."

"How do we stop him?" Tony asked as he checked his phone for any reply from Sam, considering leaving one for Steve before closing the phone.

"He has the Cosmic Cube," Potts looked around and walked over to Tony's holotable, keying in codes without pausing to ask, "It's like an advanced copy of the Tesseract but with a couple of other Infinity Stone traits merged in."

"Infinity –"

"We need to get that from him before he uses it to alter reality or reverse time," Potts continued, speaking over Strange without a look back, "But the only way we can do that is by getting to his place before he comes to collect us from ours."

"We don't know where we'll find him," Tony pointed out even as he got off the table, tossing the apple core into the trash with practised ease as he walked towards his older self, "What are you doing?"

"Finding him," Potts responded distractedly, shooting Tony a fleeting glance when he came to stand beside the man, "You named your AI after Pepper?"

"It works"

"An Irish voice?"

"What are you, the naming police?" Tony swiped at the data running and peered at the codes he didn't recognize, "What's your plan?"

"Walking in through the front door sounds nice," Potts clicked his tongue as the map switched, shifting his weight onto his left foot, "You coming?"

"Do I need to?" Tony asked, sensing Strange turning towards them completely from his half-done whispered conversation with Reed.

"Kang's tuned into my life-sign detection and you'd match, it could help throw him off," Potts shrugged a shoulder, and Tony raised a brow at the veiled tension in the cavalier tone.

"I don't think this is a wise decision," Stephen commented from behind them but Potts waited for Tony to give him a short nod before grabbing his shoulder and tapping at his own chest, blue light radiating from an orb hanging on a silver chain.

"Any last words?" Potts asked as they began to shift, a portal opening to their right.

"Not to you," Tony said before shooting Reed a look as they began to get sucked in, "Tell Steve –"

Tony had gone through his share of disorienting awakenings, mouth dry and head throbbing worse than a hangover, but it never got familiar in a good way. It was always a toss-up between the medbay or in the middle of a rubble-filled land but the one constant was Steve, always watching over him till he got back to his feet.

This time he opened his eyes to a blank slate of blue, a system shutdown in his mind and nobody staring down at him.

"Forgot you weren't used to portals," a voice said and he turned his head to see Potts standing a few feet beside him, rubbing at his sternum, "You alright? Come on, we don't have time to rest."

"Jesus fuck, why didn't you retire?" Tony grumbled as he shifted his knees to get up, looking around them as he catalogued their surroundings, "Walking in through the front door, right. This is such a Steve plan."

"We have to hurry before they get here," Potts looked to his left and turned to look at Tony, "Keep it simple, I'll find the Cube, you keep a watch out and we'll get out of dodge."

Tony decided against arguing and took two steps forward when the alarms began blaring.

"Good plan," he informed dryly as the first set of bots began making their way to them from around the corridor.

\----

Steve landed on the roof smoothly, the phone still clenched tight in his hand.

He had no idea what Reed meant when he said that a time-travelling Tony had come to take away his own Tony but he was sure of one thing – this would not end well for the other guy if he didn't get Tony back in one piece.

He didn't stop to linger on the hurt that Tony hadn't called him himself and focused on the thought that the last thing he had told before leaving was something related to Steve. It was most likely an offhanded goodbye or something that would drive Steve up the wall right now but he chose to interpret it as a call for help.

It had been a long time since they had helped each other directly and the idea of being late to restart that habit soured in his throat.

Strange didn't wait for Steve to get off the jet and met him at the base of the ramp, a cracked but bright blue orb in hand.

"He calls himself Potts and he left this behind," the sorcerer informed in a clipped tone, dropping the orb in Steve's hand, "Both Reed and I have tried using it but it's coded through DNA and he was pretty insistent on calling for you."

"Why will it work with me?" Steve asked even as he glanced down at the lemon-sized device, looking up at Stephen when the man cleared his throat.

"Because you're his husband too, apparently," Stephen pursed his lips, looking undecided for a second before he continued, "Steven, Potts is Tony, I checked. He's older and different but he is the same man. He's also trying to protect his timeline alongside ours, though I suspect he didn't plan well. Reed is trying to work on locating his timeline and on getting more information about Kang but we're working on limited straws here."

"Right," Steve clutched the orb and took a step back, exhaling the tension coiling within him, "Alright, we'll work this out in teams then."

"Yours or ours?" Stephen raised a judgemental brow and Steve met his challenging stare head-on. He knew that the man didn't approve of the stalemate but now was not the time to worry about that. Once Tony was back, they could figure out whatever they hadn't.

"Sam knows I'm here," Steve answered, letting Stephen take what he will from that, "Stand-by if things go south, we might need back-up."

"Don't you need comms?" Strange called out but Steve shook his head even as he turned around.

"I've got mine for now," he replied and hit the button for the hatch to close. He heard Strange comment about Steve's alternate self but it wasn't clear and the door shut to leave him alone.

The orb glowed in his palm and Steve saw the coordinates set in silver letters with a single slit on top.

DNA. Right.

A pinprick brought up the drop of blood needed to activate his recognition for the orb and Steve held onto the handles of the steering as he felt the device activate.

He hoped the device took along the jet because he had a suspicion that they'd need an escape plan if this didn't work again.

The feeling of disorientation was strong but he kept his eyes peeled open as the portal dragged him in, bright light engulfing the entire jet.

It was a momentary journey before he found himself facing a fortress, jet floating in the darkness. The design resembled a helmet, dark purple and teal, blinking lights of neon blue at the apex.

"Right, flying fortress," he glanced down at the orb and winced at the crack that had deepened, the light flickering now, "Libby, do we have scans out on the attack systems?"

LIBERTY wasn't P.E.P.P.E.R but she was suitable for Steve and he'd become attached to her in the time he had used her help. It had been a birthday present from his husband during their first year of marriage and Steve knew that it was yet another thing that had become a strained memory now that he had distanced himself.

They had managed to resolve most of the situation with the Congress and it was back to civility since T'Challa's wedding where they had both gone separately. Civil didn't mean comfortable though, and it was an unspoken awareness in the superhero community that Iron Man and Commander Rogers were still married but not really together.

It was strange how it hadn't taken long for Tony to switch back to being Iron Man from being the temporary Director of SHIELD but Steve couldn't go back to being Captain America yet. He still had the shield in his apartment, always by the foot of the bed even at night, and the uniform hung clean in the closet. He was Captain America in every way, even in the eyes of those who had sought to suspend him, but he hadn't picked up the shield since his last fight with Tony.

It was like the ring he wore in the chain under his stealth uniform; present but ambiguous.

The fortress seemed to have spotted the jet and Steve saw the jaw-clip part of the helmet open up.

"Cap, we're being hailed," Libby informed him, "I can't activate the defence shields, our signals are being jammed."

"This is Steve Rogers," he called out, recognizing the audio link being active, "Commander Rogers from the Avengers."

"Captain America," a deep voice answered, layered with knowing amusement, "How nice of you to join us finally. I'm Kang, the Time Conqueror and I welcome you."

"Where are we?"

"Wherever you'd choose," Kang replied and Steve's hackles rose at the casually dismissive tone that he'd heard from enough dictators, "I'm no slave to boundaries of land or space, Captain. My home is one with the flow of time, and you are privileged to witness it now. Come, I've waited for your arrival long enough."

"My invitation must have been late," Steve answered through grit teeth as his scans flickered on the screen.

"You're almost as tiresome as the Starks," the conqueror observed casually before the jet began moving on its own, power dampened from the fortress, "It's time you joined them."

The jet gravitated to a docking bay and Steve catalogued three disfigured bots waiting for him as the hatch opened. He could try fighting them, try making a break for it, but he had to see Tony and his companion first. Kang had hinted that he had them, and that was Steve's primary mission.

He was led through a maze of corridors with panels embedded with security footage that changed screen with every alternate blink. The bots didn't communicate with him, flanking him on three sides as he walked, and Steve took in the route they were following. It seemed odd that he was being allowed to walk without restraints but something about that fact also warned him of factors he hadn't seen yet, Kang's confidence in his plan.

Their destination was a domed hall with more grey to it than Tony would have ever allowed in any of the Tower's décor. Except for Hulk's calm section, but that was a unanimous decision to let be.

There was a hologram in the middle of the room and Steve ignored the bots when they left him, focusing on the visual playing on the screen.

He recognized Tony and his eyes ran over every detail he could find, the dust on his face and frown between his brows were the only indicators of him being held. There were no bruises on him, none visible from what Steve could see.

The same couldn't be said for the man sitting beside him as they seemed to work.

Potts, Steve gathered, was close to his nineties by an easy bet but his face was calm. He had a bruise blooming on his cheek and a split lip, and neither stopped him from talking to Tony in a normal tone.

They were placed in some dark setting, the lights flickering behind them, and arches of stone visible in the corner of the screen. It looked like an underground bunker or a dingy dungeon.

If Steve could believe it, it almost looked like – a cave.

He focused on the audio as he took three steps forward, coming to stand in a better vantage point to watch.

"You want me to tell you that he doesn't hate you," Potts scooped another handful of mud into his bowl, eyeballing the measurement with easy precision as he shot Tony a quick glance before focusing on his task, "Actually, scratch that. You want me to tell you that he can love you despite hating you right now.

"Is this you giving a pep-talk, because you kind of -," Tony passed him the last ring of metal they had, "- suck at it."

"I've never been good at pep-talks for myself," Potts didn't miss a beat as his fingers kneaded the wet mud, nimble movement of a practised engineer, "Warnings, though? That I'm good with. So, you want one of those?"

Steve knew that Tony didn't want one. There wasn't much to warn him, not in this situation, and especially not with Potts being happily married. It was an oddity in some cosmic decision, the freedom given to one of his parallels; to be confident of where he was despite a building capriciousness, of how much he could ask without measuring what he could give. It wasn't always this way, the shocks that kept spasming in waves of an aftermath. There had been times when he had been able to absorb a jolt and stabilize himself, one foot braced back but the other sure upfront.

Somewhere down his own time, Potts must have learnt to identify bitterness in his reflection pretty well and Tony caught his knowing look as he schooled his expression.

"Why didn't you get back-up?" Tony asked, and Steve frowned as he wondered the same thing, "Doesn't your team have any – oh come on!"

"Fascinating, isn't it," Steve heard from behind him and turned to see a floating man dressed in the same colour scheme as his fortress, "The loops of time."

"What are you doing to them?" Steve asked as he looked back at the screen where Tony was staring up at the Chitauri in a darkened bunker, frozen as he took in the destruction around him. Potts looked shaken too but he quickly looked away from –

Steve hadn't imagined looking at his own body lying dead before but this was enough to tell him that it wouldn't be a pleasant sight in reality.

"To them? Nothing," Kang replied, gesturing at the screen with a bored hand, "I'm simply letting time correct itself. Letting them fall where they should. Fixing them."

"This isn't the first time someone's said that in history," Steve looked at the screen when he heard Tony curse, "Why them?"

"Because of you, Rogers," Kang stared him down when Steve turned to face him, a distasteful expression creeping in, "Because you broke the laws of time and it was always for a Stark."

"You're hunting us for something that hasn't happened," Steve heard Tony call out to Potts to be careful but kept his attention on the tyrant before him, "I'm not the Steve Rogers you're looking for."

"You are," Kang laughed, the curiosity of a powerful man about to step on someone's neck, "You always will be, in every point of time. And that is why you must be stopped. But you will be stopped only if he is stopped, I have learned that now."

Steve attempted to move forward but he was frozen by the beam of light flashing from Kang's chair.

"Let's see how you react when time breaks your laws," the purple-faced madman commented and worked on the panel in his armrest.

Tony screamed onscreen but there was a blinding light that made Steve close his eyes for a second before he tried to make out his husband's form again.

_If Tony was hurt, I'll drag Kang through all hells of time myself,_ he decided but the screen cleared and Tony was still there, this time hunched over in a cellar clutching at his chest.

Potts hovered over him and muttered something in his ear, a constant stream of words too fast to catch on. He could hear bits of ‘realign', ‘paradox', and ‘same' but it didn't make sense till Tony's head came up.

Steve may have been away from his partner for a recent while but his image was steeped into his senses. He could recognize Tony in pitch darkness, with a curve of muscle or a brush of elbows. He had touched Tony's face in every degree of passion, traced dip and scar with bolder fingertips, and had etched out memories over his closed eyelids every waking night.

He could know Tony from day to week, every missed moment a clarity in motion, and the man in front of him was not the one he had come seeking. This was the man he had kissed before war had ravaged their peace.

This was Tony before Extremis had smoothed out his lines and aged Steve's worries.

"You bastard," Steve spat out low to Kang, anger coursing through him because this was robbing Tony's life, ripping out his time through agonisingly deceitful mercy, "You have a problem with me, take it up with me. I broke time, I'm the one you want, right? Fight me, then."

"Your childish goading doesn't affect me, Steve Rogers," Kang scoffed, pointing his gauntleted hand in Steve's direction, "But I will keep you here to allow you to see what your true punishment is. Kang will bring back balance to the timestream and you will be witness to it from my hold."

Steve didn't get another word out before he was portaled out of the room and he found his feet on firmer ground in a cellar similar to where he had seen Tony in.

"Richards?" he heard an older voice and recognized it as Potts, moving to the nearest wall to get closer.

"Reed, if it's you and you got caught, I'm going to be disappointed," Tony added, a hint of wariness in his tone but Steve felt relieved that they could speak.

"Tony?"

"No"

"Tony, it's –"

"Nope, I refuse this," Tony replied and Steve heard Potts sigh before his husband's voice came closer, "You cannot be doing this right now."

"Hi to you too, honey," Steve said dryly even as he searched the wall for weak spots.

"Why is it always you when I'm in my most embarrassing situations?" Tony demanded, speaking over Potts when the man started to say something, "I specifically told Reed to tell you _nothing_. What's so complicated about nothing?"

"You never told Reed anything, you just said my name and vanished," Steve corrected him, looking out the cell to see the bots stationed as guards, "And I've seen worse."

"Really?"

"No, coming to take on a time-travelling maniac alone is incomparable"

"Why aren't we divorced again?" Tony asked but Steve could read the annoyance in his tone and it strangely made him calm down further.

"Because you didn't draft the papers –"

"The legal team is open to your disposal too, Jesus fucking Christ."

"- and I didn't want to," Steve completed, letting the pause in conversation stay as he tested the wall's corners, "Okay, we need a new plan. Any ideas?"

"One," Potts called out, "but you won't like it."

"Neither do I," Tony sounded serious, a tinge of worry colouring his voice, "Potts, what are you –"

There was an explosion to his right and Steve huddled into himself as he moved out of the way, shielding his torso with his hands before he looked to see a hole in the wall. It was jagged but that would do and Steve scrambled to his feet, moving to crawl his way into Tony's cell just as the bots began coming towards them. He managed to get in and grabbed the gun from the nearest bot, twisting it up as he kicked it in the gut, throwing the ripped-out gun at the other bot's head. He heard Tony's grunt and turned to see him duck in time to let a plasma beam miss his head to hit the connection port holding him down.

Steve managed to get a hold of the nearest bot’s head and reached in between its neck to pull at the wires.

“They’re not my bots!” Tony yelled as he dragged himself free from the nodes attached to his temple, “Go for the chest circuit!”

He did miss his shield but Steve had broken through tougher spots and he was soon joined by Tony as they took on the remaining bot together.

A misplaced blow hit his arm and he felt the pain throb but punched back to finish the fight.

“Steve,” Tony called out and Steve looked over to see him crouched over an injured Doctor Potts.

“I’m fine,” the older man rasped but Steve moved to grab his other arm as Tony took the right, “It’s just a graze, I’m fine, let’s move.”

“He’s hit,” Steve observed, gently pulling away the man’s flailing hand to check the wound in the gut, “It’s not a bullet and it isn’t deep, he’ll live.”

“Kang’s moving to the Tower soon,” Tony relayed, eyes darting from Potts’ abdomen to Steve, “He said he had something to prove.”

“Is Reed’s Bridge still active?” Steve hefted Potts to his feet, checking over Tony quickly as they stood.

“Yes,” Tony turned to check the opening they had, looking back at Potts, “We need to get a hold of that Cube before we reach the Tower.”

“He should have a control base,” Potts pushed at Tony before extracting himself from Steve’s hold, “Can you crack the security?”

“Is this a new level of self-doubt?” Tony asked Steve but moved once he was sure that Steve had the older man, letting himself out to get them the clearing out of the area.

It felt odd to Steve that Kang didn’t detect them making their escape but as they passed the corridors to the control chamber, he caught sight of the fortress detecting presence of the Avengers Tower while simultaneously targeting other areas of their friends. The security screens changed locale with every passing minute but they didn’t have time to pause and parse out a plan.

When they finally reached the room, working with Potts’ information of the fortress he had once seen before, Steve did a quick lookout before letting them in and hoping that they didn’t have to fight an intruder anytime soon.

“They jammed our signal,” Tony cursed as he peered at his comm, looking over at Potts with a frustrated frown, “I didn’t know you had Extremis too.”

“I don’t, not really,” Potts shrugged, walking over to the nearest console, “It’s a modified version, leaning more into the biological aspects. I had one shot and it seemed right to use it back in the cell.”

“That’s not sustainable”

“Do you have any communication with your team?” Steve asked, intruding on the conversation, and Potts turned to give him a tired shake of his head.

“I can’t, not here anyway,” he ran a hand over his face, “If I activate any contact with them before I get the Cube, everything’s failed.”

“Your phone”

“What?” Steve turned to Tony but his husband was already walking forward, an intense focus on his face, “My phone can’t work in intergalactic networks, Tony.”

“And who’s choice was that,” Tony waved his hand before clicking his tongue and holding out a hand, “I don’t need a network to get our way out, phone now. Please.”

Steve was already reaching into his belt pouch to pull the older model of Starkphone he had refused to change despite all offers of upgrade. Tony made a pleased sound when he got the phone in hand, picking it apart swiftly as he handed Steve every part he didn’t need.

“This should get us the slightest chance but I’m hoping that should be enough,” Tony said to no one in particular, using his nail to pull out a microchip.

“I thought you removed all the trackers?” Steve raised a brow but Tony tossed the phone at him without looking.

“It’s not a tracker, I don’t need that,” Tony cracked the chip and grinned up at Steve, the first honest smile he had seen since he had met him again, “I’ve got Libby.”

“What –”

“_Cap?_” Libby’s light emitted from a slit between the chip and the audio had interference, “_Are you still with Kang?_”

“Hi honey,” Tony spoke up before Steve could respond, “I need you to crack some code here. Any help about where Kang’s Cube?”

“_I can’t detect much but there’s a energy surge in the throne room,_” Libby answered, pausing a second, “_Tony, there’s a pr-ma-code.”_

“She’s losing power,” Tony commented but Steve leaned in.

“Libby, what’s going on?”

“_Inter – Cap -,”_ the voice crackled before continuing, “_Lock – A – bear- nation. Bear – tion –”_

“Libby!”

“She’ll come back,” Steve heard Tony say in a quiet tone, looking up to see him eyeing Steve with a chagrined expression, “I’ll fix it once we get home.”

They had lost their latest hope, discovered a new puzzle of a possible alien species, and they were trapped but Steve stared at Tony; he had lost people before and Tony knew what loss did for Steve even if he didn’t let it affect others.

Libby wasn’t a person, but she was Steve’s. Tony understood that, the way very few did.

He knew that Tony would help him get her back. He didn’t know what it would take to make Tony see that Steve would like more than just her back.

Home, Tony had said, even if it was just in the heat of the moment.

Steve wanted it to be more than that.


	2. Chapter 2

"A bear nation"

Tony looked away from Steve to see Potts go through an entire spectrum of emotions before a mirthful grin began taking over his face.

"What?" he asked and Potts huffed out an incredulous chuckle but he was moving, walking over behind Steve to get to the mainframe of the sphere, his feet carrying a stability that had been absent since the mishap.

"She's a goddamn genius, of course, she is," Potts didn't bother sitting but leaned over the console to pull up a flow of data and froze pages that changed colour to a highlighted pale gold as he ran through them, "A bear nation. That's what you transcribed from her message, right? And everyone's thinking in terms of an alien species, which I get because we've seen stranger, but think again. What does it sound if you put her into context?"

"It's a code?" Steve moved forward, his fingers tightening on the strap of the scarred shield but Tony focused on the files being pulled up and it clicked.

"A-bear-nation," he felt laughter bubbling in his throat and Potts grinned without looking away from the screen, "We're idiots."

"A – oh," Steve caught sight of the astral projection data and Tony looked over to see the realization dawn on his face, "Aberration. She said ‘aberration'."

"Astronomy nerd too?" Potts asked but Steve shared a look with Tony, who didn't stop the fond smile from showing as he remembered all the stargazing dates.

"He does love his _stars_ and stripes," Tony quipped and shrugged mildly when Steve raised a knowing brow.

They were looking for a specific connection to the concept, he calculated and dragged the seat nearby to find a place on the second screen. With the new context colouring the entire message, he went about working with Potts to pull up any new information that could help them.

"You think he's okay?" he heard from behind, a low murmur pitched for his ears only and felt the heat of Steve standing close. His fingers flew over the keys but his shoulders lowered an inch at the brush of gloved knuckles over them as his husband held the back of the chair with one hand.

"N-O," Tony tapped on the console's side and chanced a fleeting glance Potts' way before getting back to work. He may not know the man in depth but he knew pain, knew the irregular rhythm of it flashing in jerky movements, and Potts wasn't nearly as superhuman as he wanted to convince them Extremis made him. Tony had personal connections with the virus, an accidental affair that had probably been the unaddressed beginning of his miscommunication with Steve, and he knew that Potts was overselling his own fitness. He'd prefer that they didn't send back a dead man to the man's husband but they needed to get out of the current trap if that was to start.

Steve squeezed his shoulder once before letting his hand rest against the chair again and fell silent as they worked.

"Found it," Potts called out, straightening with a bitten-off wince before his screen widened to show a blueprint with notes in the background.

"This is based on a 1680 entry," Tony observed, eyes widening when he made the connection, "Jean Picard, the notes from his observation of Polaris."

"Voyage d'Uranibourg," Steve read, taking a step to the side where he stood between Tony and Potts, "But why does Kang have his own notes on it?"

"Because this is his Uranibourg," Tony turned the chair around to face Steve, looking between him and an increasingly tired-looking Potts, "He's Picard in the situation and he's here to witness his Polaris moment. Except, you know, this time it'll cost a population to have his observation."

"They're not Kang's notes," Potts called out and they turned to see him zooming in on the scribbled words, a grim understanding on his face when he pointed to the screen, "This is familiar handwriting, and it's not Kang's. It's in Swedish on purpose."

Tony looked over and it clicked. Of course.

"He gathered Selvig's notes," the handwriting, slanted in rushed ink was familiar from the notes they had once used themselves to try and dissect his understanding of the Tesseract, "If he's following Selvig –"

"- it won't be long till he finds a way to the Tesseract," Potts surmised but Steve took a step to Tony's side and shook his head.

"He'll find a way to Jane Foster and her knowledge of the Aether," Steve took a breath and his eyes cut over to Tony, an unspoken understanding passing between them as they took in the implications, "He's going to rewrite history. His codes must be linked to this."

Steve turned away to look when they heard a rough cough and took a few steps in the direction of the older man who had a pained expression as he clutched his abdomen.

"You need to stay down," he told as he dodged the weak attempt to stop him and eyed the state of Potts' wounds, "Doctor Potts, listen to me, we'll find a way to stop him but you need to rest a minute."

"I need to get back home in a minute," Potts countered but took the chair when Tony wheeled it to him, shooting a dry look in their direction as he sat, "Okay, fine, we'll work it out then. You two get to work on getting the cube back and I'll get cracking on this guy's time codes."

"If you bleed out here, I'm going to say your last words were something dumb," Tony gently pushed him back against the chair so he was more comfortable and pat his shoulder, "I'll make it a Dan Brown quote, I'm serious."

"Get your man out of here," Potts rolled his eyes at Steve but nodded when he got a concerned look, "If you two do your jobs, I'll get back to my own worrywart soon. Don't worry, he's pretty picky about me dying and I have no intention of ruining our anniversary plans."

Steve fell into step as Tony turned to leave the control room and it had been weeks, probably months since they marched to the same tune and in the same line. They had fallen out of sync, friction in every motion of their meetings, but right now they were a well-tuned machine. It was a mnemonic partnership and neither needed to sound out where their feet would fall as they stalked through the dimmed corridor that led to the cellar they had escaped.

"I never thought I'd say this but, I wish I wasn't younger," Tony grit his teeth as he missed the connection of the nano-virus and had to feel out the walls for the failsafe, "My kingdom for a flashlight."

"Found it," Steve pushed, moving back when the wall rearranged itself and Tony let him hold out a hand as shield till the clearing became wide enough for them to enter, "You're doing pretty well without it."

It wasn't bitter, he knew his husband enough to know when he actually sounded bitter, but Tony couldn't stop his hackles from rising.

"Well, it's good that he didn't reverse the serum then, isn't it?" he kept his eyes away and kept moving, trying to adjust his vision to the flickering bursts of light that he knew was energy waves, "Wouldn't want two civilians on the job."

The mauve keypad was right where they had last seen it, a little cracked from the force they had used to escape, but he could work with that. The sequencing had changed, a constant shift of locks that rearranged with every passing minute, and the old comfort of codebreaking set in as he got down to it.

He could hear Steve gathering the weapons from the bots they had disarmed but didn't turn to check, eyes flying over the flashing digits. Kang was a right bastard but his security was intricate, gossamer threads of intelligence that would have seduced Tony's AIs on a bad day, and if he didn't suspect that the guy wasn't taking credit for the work of other minds then he might have been impressed, to say the least. He almost began missing Scott when he finally cracked the last wall and slapped the pad sharply as he got to his feet.

"We've got 2 minutes," Steve said as he marched forward, tossing Tony a plasma blaster as he moved without turning around. He checked to see that the thing had no safety and no biometric coding either, which would have been less relieving any other time but for now he followed Steve as they made their way towards the centre sphere they had found on the map. Steve walked steady but not too fast that Tony couldn't keep up, eyes trained forward and to his left as Tony kept watch to the left and an ear for any attack from the back. It was blissful to be silent as they walked but there was a tightness to Steve's shoulder whenever Tony's gaze skipped over him, coiled alertness that wasn't overtly on display even when they were on the field. His right arm was still broken so it might have been that but Tony had seen him shake worse breaks sooner, and it didn't help that Steve was specifically being slow in leading the way.

"What's the plan?" he asked as they came into a brighter section of the maze of corridors, checking the cold walls as he walked.

"You get the jet from the dock," Steve turned left, without pause and didn't look behind him, "I'll get the cube."

"Alone?" Tony frowned at his back but didn't hasten his steps.

"You're enough to get the jet on your own, Tony."

"I meant you," Tony corrected and this time he reached out, catching Steve's wrist lightly and bringing him to a halt right around the corner of the last corridor, "You're not gonna take on Kang alone, what's going on?"

"I can handle it," Steve assured him, though Tony could read the tension in his jaw and felt his own nerves tighten.

"Really, because you can't handle it _with_ me, is it?" he asked, because screw this, screw the doubts and alienation, "Whatever happened to ‘we are a team', Cap?"

Steve's eyes cut over to him at that because Tony knew his sore spots too, he knew the exact tone to rile him up. He honestly didn't know how Potts managed to make things smooth because good didn't mean fine, and friction burned worlds when it was them. He could love Steve, could want all of him, but they were at loggerheads more than they were not, and maybe things would get too tiring soon. Maybe fighting wasn't enough and he couldn't find the other side of this river between them.

And Steve wouldn't cross over because he was a goddamned tree, rooted firmly at his own side, beautiful but unreachable.

"We're on the brink of possible death and you still don't want to –"

"No," Steve's voice was low but sharp enough to cut through Tony's frustration, making him pause to take a closer look.

"Steve," Tony caught sight of the tired lines, the strained pull of grinding teeth and loosened his grip further on his wrist, a faint but softly grounding touch on Steve's pulse, "Hey, what's this?"

"No one's dying," Steve shook his head, eyes flitting away behind Tony before looking back at him with a fierceness that glistened in his eyes, "And I'd really prefer if you stopped taking anything I said as an attack. I'm not trying to insult you."

"Okay," Tony accepted because he was sensing that there was something else going on too, "You want to tell me why you need to go on this suicidal mission alone then? Because we can both do it and get to the jet together, I know that, alright?"

"You don't have your suit –"

"It's really hard to not take offence, honey, you have to see this."

"- and he's particularly targeting you because of me," Steve said, dead serious as he held Tony's gaze, "No matter what I thought about Extremis, it was yours and he targeted you only after I came. He's going to fight me, Tony, but he's going to kill you."

"He – Steve," Tony swallowed at the tears that Steve shook off.

"I trust you to get us out of here," Steve shifted his wrist to catch Tony's wrist in his palm, "Do you trust me?"

Tony took a breath and made a decision. One step of faith, that's what Potts had said.

"I do," he said and released his hold, watching Steve turn around to jog his way out.

If he comes back any less alive, I'm going to burn this whole place down, he decided and made himself move for his own part of the mission.

It wasn't hard to find the docking bay and Tony thanked Nat a thousand times in his mind as the stealth training proved useful in sneaking his way in. He found their jet in less than stellar shape but it would do, they could finagle it enough to get the hell out.

The controls weren't tampered with and he worked on finding a coordinate, any signal that could tell them the course out of the fortress.

He startled when the holoscreen in front of him flashed and cursed low at the image coming through.

"Are you working from the control room?" he asked as he dragged the spare case for Widow's bites. It was concealed and powered down, spy's intuition saving it from being confiscated, and Tony could use it if he needed to.

"I'm almost there to unlocking the dampeners," Potts replied from the screen, looking haggard but focused, "Where's the other one?"

"I'll tell you when I get him back," Tony informed as he winced at the pressure on his bruised knee but dragged himself into the captain's chair with the stingers wrapped around his wrist, "Can you move? Wait, don't, one of us will come get you once we get –"

"I'm coming to the aerial bridge in 60 seconds, get there," Potts declared and grinned as he hit a final button, "And dampeners are down, comms back on?"

Tony felt the crackle in his ear and felt his breath leave easier on the next exhale.

"Comms on," he confirmed and watched Potts pull himself up to his feet, "I'm not going to tell your husband that you were a dumbass if you don't tell mine what I'm about to do."

"Tony?" Steve's whisper came through in his ear and Tony spared a second to reprimand himself before starting the engine.

"You better catch me," Potts said even as he was moving, his voice getting fainter. Catching an 80-year-old version of himself should have worried him more but Tony didn't have time to think about it as he started the jet with an intention of dragging hell into this godforsaken place.

The attack came immediately, every possible defence system trained on the jet as he crashed through the bay, ramming into everything that came in his way. He could hear Steve's voice come through the comm and Kang's voice filtered through after a beat, the usual villain banter playing out but he had no time for amusement this time. The aerial bridge was guarded by flying suits that looked like a cross between the Chitauri shells and Mark I but their power was heavy. He heard Steve curse but forced himself to focus on the fight at hand, looking out for the man he was supposed to save.

He didn't know what Potts was made of but the damned man made it to the bridge with a second to spare, feet dragging and his undersuit soaking through the blood from his abdomen. One of the suits turned towards him and Tony fired the weapons system, taking it out before it could do anything.

"Shit, shit, shit," Tony swore as he swooped low, regretting the last moment when he had considered this plan because there was no way Potts would make it, there was no way he could land that jump from where he was leaning with a hand pressed against his gut.

Potts wiped at his mouth, took two steps back and made a running jump.

Tony opened the hatch of the jet and activated the Monkey-Grab protocol that he had specifically designed for Clint and Steve.

Steve groaned over the comm.

Potts flew through the air.

Tony held the jet steady as he kept firing at the suits in front of him, hoping for one lucky day.

Kang roared through the comm and Potts landed, a sharp curse dropping off his lips as the hatch closed behind him.

Tony rammed the controls to full speed and tore through the bridge with the confidence of someone who had nothing left to lose.

"Potts? Hey!" Tony called out even as he focused on the view ahead, crashing through the place without a second thought, "Fuck, hold on. I'm going to bring you back to life and kill you myself if you die on me now. Do not make me face your angry husband when he invariably comes looking for you."

"Where's – Steve?" Potts rasped out and Tony could hear his feet skidding behind.

"Yours or mine?" he asked and turned around the main hallway, "Steve? I could really use a check-in now."

"The – get – now"

"This is what you get for not using my comms, you – I'm going to strangle you, I swear," Tony knew he was losing it but his adrenaline was a mess and he really needed his partner back right now, "Cap, say that again. Steve!"

"I have the Cube, get us out of here now," Steve's voice came clearer and Tony bit back a relieved sigh, "I'm almost there to the launch area, 30 seconds ETA."

"Make it 20," Tony demanded and heard Potts chuckle tiredly but pushed the speed as he calculated the exit route.

"I'm not the one who's younger here," Steve quipped, and this was good, this was comforting.

"I've had that complex for years now, you can handle it for an hour," he declared smoothly, the jet's sensors catching the location of Steve's incoming, "I've got eyes on you, coming in hot."

"Don't you always," Steve commented even as he ran faster, knowing that he'd make it, having made the jump a thousand times before.

"Some things never change," Potts informed but Tony could hear the fatigue in his voice, knew that the man was going to lose consciousness in a few minutes at best.

Steve made the jump and Tony closed the hatch without pause.

"I've got it from here, check on him," he called out without turning but heard Steve's footsteps.

"You need to get us to the- ow, fuck – base," Potts said even as Tony knew that Steve had begun inspecting the wound.

"Do we still have the nanospray?" Steve asked and Tony nodded as he dodged another spray of attack, "Doctor Potts – hey, stay still, it won't sting."

"I know"

"He knows," Tony echoed the other man.

"Right," Steve got to work, the grunts and hisses from Potts telling Tony that he wasn't winning the battle against a focused Captain America, "This will go easier if you pipe down, I'm just saying. It's like Clint and you combined here."

"You have my permission to divorce this one," Potts informed Tony and Tony laughed.

It was a close call at a point but they managed to get out and the signal interference broke away once they gathered some distance. It didn't take long for Tony to put a distress call through to the Tower and Rhodey answered almost immediately.

"Coordinates"

"I'm alive, thank you for asking," Tony looked at the tense face of his best friend and saw the moment Rhodey caught sight of Steve behind him, "We're all fine. But if you got Carol and Thor to come to destroy Kang's base a bit, nobody's complaining."

"Kang," Rhodey's eyes widened before his shoulders relaxed and he looked behind to nod at someone for a second, "We thought – okay, I'll detect your coordinates, unlock the tracker."

"I didn't kidnap them, don't worry," Potts called out from behind and his voice was getting drowsy. Tony could switch to autopilot but he didn't want to risk it for now. He still had to check P.E.P.P.E.R's codes for Kang's work.

"I need to contact Natasha and the others too," Steve said and Tony turned his head to see his husband keeping an eye on Potts.

"They're here," Rhodey informed, moving to let Natasha come from his side.

"Hi," she eyed Steve before taking in Tony's appearance, a tension leaking out of her face as she smiled lightly, "Nice vacation?"

"You finally got a shower I see," Tony replied and she grinned further, raising her brows as she caught sight of Potts' raised hand, "Yes, he's not a shapeshifter and Steve's as paranoid as you, congratulations."

"We've got an incoming signal from the deep-space scanners, and Reed says he's detecting another time portal," she quipped, an amused look falling onto her face, "Is the other Steve a ‘punch first' type too or can I get Stephen to make him some tea first?"

"Is everyone safe?" Steve asked as he made his way to stand beside Tony's seat, one hand on the chair, "We'll need medical attention, get the medbay ready. Doctor Potts is hurt."

"I'm really liking the Doctor part, you could call me Doctor Stark too," Tony chimed in, quirking his lips at the brush of fingers against his nape, "Rhodey, track us in now and get Danvers on."

It took a bit of help from Strange and Sue to get them to the Tower safely, the journey through Stephen's portal jarring for Tony, but they made it just in time for Potts to finally lose consciousness.

"We've got him," Helen declared as she greeted them at the landing pad and Bruce came up behind her to help take Potts in.

"You two need medical too," Sam told them when he came through and his eyes lingered on Steve's stance for a second before his face brightened with a knowing grin, "Or maybe you could deal with that later. Together. I'm gonna check on Reed."

Tony raised a brow at his retreating figure but then stilled when he felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to face a tired but open Steve.

"You okay?" Steve asked and Tony considered him for a minute. The last time they had stood in the same spot, Steve had been leaving for his Washington meeting and he had come back to Tony's mess with Reed's council idea with his own troubled mind. It had probably ended better than it could have, Kang had spoken about it, about words and timelines where one of them dies or kills the other or destroys the entire world with their unsaid words.

They had cracked but their world still stood, and they could still come for each other.

But then he thought of the worlds that Potts had lived through, the timelines where they had fixed the world together, when they had created futures that they couldn't have done alone.

They had broken but they were still here, together in the view of a safe sky.

One step of faith and a little bit of luck.

It had been luck that had brought them together, a domino effect of a mistake from those who had come to save their own world. They had been lucky to escape things that someone else had faced.

Which left them with faith. And one step between them.

"Could be better," Tony said and let himself smile, just a little, just enough to allow Steve to see the man behind the mask.

He could choose faith for Steve and himself. It was worth it.

Steve looked at him, a searching note in his gaze before his face softened and his arms relaxed at his side.

This time Steve took a step forward and Tony found that being held by his husband didn't change with time.

It still felt like home.

When Potts' people came for him half an hour later, they were greeted by the reunited co-leaders of a team with band-aids between them.

It was a new start and that was the best thing that time could give them.

**Author's Note:**

> For additional feels please check out [this art by the fantabulous Tishawish](https://tishawish.tumblr.com/post/184408648174/just-a-little-bit-masochistic-gonna-be-watching)that is unrelated to this fic but did give me major bittersweet Stevetony feels and honestly, isn't that the point of it all in a way? :P


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